A Tribute to Maria Callas

Feburary 28th - March 29th

Focusing on Callas’s stage appearances in Greece and across the world, the exhibition, A Tribute to Maria Callas, presents a selection of photographs from the archives of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Greek National Theatre, Associated Press, Hellenic Literary and Historical Archives, Benaki Museum in Athens, EMI Classics, ERT Historical Archives and the Arena Theatre in Verona, as well as private collections. The photographs are complemented by small works of art by Greek artists Karolos Kambelopoulos and Aspasia Papadoperaki, as well as a short video of film clips of some of Callas’s performances produced by EMI Classics.

The exhibition was organized and presented in Athens during the summer and fall of 2007 by the Hellenic Parliament Foundation under the title Maria Callas: 30 Years Later, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Callas’s death.  In 2008, under its current title, the exhibition was presented at various locations in Greece (Crete, Karditsa, Messinian Meligalas, Corfu, Salonica, Florina and Ioannina) and in Trieste, Italy and Washington, DC.

Maria Callas was one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique with great dramatic gifts.  An extremely versatile singer, her repertoire ranged from classical opera seria to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini and further to the works of Verdi and Puccini, and in her early career, the musical dramas of Wagner.  Her remarkable talents led to her being hailed La Divina.

Callas was born Maria Kalogeropoulos in New York City on December 3, 1923, just four months after her parents, George and Evangelia Kalogeropoulos, arrived from Greece.  At age seven she began her musical studies with piano lessons.  She loved opera even as a youth and had the gift of a beautiful voice.  She especially loved to sing La Paloma and took great pleasure and comfort in listening to the many opera records in her family's collection.  She soon discovered that she had a natural talent and flair for the dramatic, winning several amateur talent contests while she was in elementary school and becoming a popular performer on children's radio shows.

When Callas graduated from the eighth grade in 1937, her mother brought her to Greece to receive voice training in the classical tradition.  After World War II, her music coach, Elvira de Hidalgo, encouraged her to move to Italy to establish her career.  Her Italian debut, held on August 3, 1947, was a performance of La Gioconda at the Verona Arena.  She went on to perform Tristan and Isolde and Turandot in Venice in 1948.  She sang the title role in Bellini's Norma, her most popular role, for the first time in Florence in 1948.  Critics took note, and her career began to soar.

Throughout her career, however, Callas endured struggles and scandal.  She turned herself from a heavy woman into a svelte and glamorous one after a mid-career weight loss, which might have contributed to her vocal decline and the premature end of her career.  The press exulted in publicizing her allegedly temperamental behavior, her supposed rivalry with Renata Tebaldi and her love affair with Aristotle Onassis.  Callas died unexpectedly in Paris, France on September 16, 1977, shortly before her 55th birthday.  Her dramatic life and personal tragedy have often overshadowed Callas the artist in the popular press.  Her artistic achievements, however, were such that Leonard Bernstein called her “The Bible of Opera,” and her influence so lasting that in 2006, Opera News wrote of her, "Nearly thirty years after her death, she's still the definition of the diva as artist—and still one of classical music's best-selling vocalists."

A Tribute to Maria Callas and related events at the Maliotis Cultural Center are presented by the Hellenic Parliament Foundation, Consulate General of Greece in Boston, Maliotis Cultural Center and the Federation of Hellenic-American Societies of New England.

The exhibition, which will remain at the Maliotis Center through March 29, will be open Monday through Wednesday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Thursday and Friday from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm and Sunday from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  Following its display at the Maliotis Center, the exhibition will travel to the Houston Grand Opera in Houston, Texas.  The exhibition, including the reception and concert, is open to the public and free of charge.